Improvement in fenders for furniture



GEORGE .R. WILLMOT.

improvementin Fenders for Furniture,

No.123,965. Patented Feb-20,1872.

UNITED STATES GEORGE R. WILLMOT, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

lMPROV EMENT IN FENDERS FOR FURNITURE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,965, dated February 20, 1872.

Specification of a new and useful Improvement in Fenders or Cushions for Furniture and other purposes, invented by GEORGE R. WILLMOT, of Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut.

Thisu'nvention relates to what are known by upholsterers as fenders or cushions. They are applied to the backs of various articles of furniture to prevent them from bruising or soiling the walls of an apartment or other surface with which they are liable to come in contact. Its object is to secure the cloth covering to the body of the fender more expeditiously and in a manner as shall also add to its neatness and security. It consists in the novel combination of a shell or body, a back-plate, and a cloth covering, whose edges are wedged in between said plate and the interior of the shell, the edge ofthe latter being bent over to more firmly gripe the cloth, and also to secure the backplate in place.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the fender complete. Fig. 2 is a diametrical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a similar section of a portion of the device on a larger scale. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the back-plate detached; and Fig. 5 is a view of the screw by which the fender is secured in place.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre= sponding parts in all the figures.

A is the shell or body of the fender, which may be variously made, but is represented as made of sheet metal, of convex form, and having formed on its outer side a central flat-bottomed recess, a, constituting a seat for an elastic tip, B, of India rubber, which is convex on its projecting side. C is a sheet-metal plate of circular form, which is of a size to fit loosely within the shell A with a little space between them. In its middle it has a hole, 0, punched, which is of a size and shape to receive the flat-sided head of the screw D, by which the fender is to be attached to the furniture, and prevent the screw from turning in the plate. The edges of the plate around this hole are bent out by the act of punching, and form a socket, whereby the screw is more firmly held. The screw D is an ordinary woodscrew, but has its head cut away at opposite points to form two flat sides, which, fitting within the hole in the back-plate C, prevent it from turning therein. It is soldered into said hole for the purpose of rigidly securing it to the back-plate. Between the back-plate and the end of the shell one or more filling or paclc ing pieces, E, is interposed. These, however, might be unnecessary with some constructions of the body or shell. F is the covering, which may be made of the same material as the covering of the piece of furniture to which it is applied.

These fenders are made as follows: The shell, flexible tip, and covering are first inserted in a die, which, by the action of a machine, is transferred to another die in such a manner as to draw the covering tightly over the shell and hold it in position to receive the filling and back, which are inserted by the action of another die. By the conjunction of the several dies, the edges of the covering are crowded between the edges of the back-plate and the interior of the shell. The edges of the latter are then pressed inward, as shown at e in Figs. 2 and 3, thereby tightening on the covering, and securing the back-plate within the shell.

Claim.

' The combination of the shell or body A, the flexible t-ip B, the back-plate C and its attached screw D, and the covering F, secured by having its edges inserted between the back-plate and shell or body, and clamped by turning in the shell or body, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

GEO. R. WILLMOT.

Witnesses GEO. W. SMITH, WM. F. GRAHAM. 

